Infosys will recruit 4,000 engineers, 1,000 each in the next four quarters in 2011-12, for its Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Hyderabad. This will take the total to 6,500 by the end of March 31, 2012.
The company, which has invested Rs 230 crore so far, would spend Rs 750 crore more on the 448-acre SEZ at Pocharam on the city outskirts. Though it signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh Government in May 2007, the SEZ got notified only on October 27, 2008, and environmental clearance came in May 2009.
The MoU called for investments of Rs 400 crore within three years in the first phase and another Rs 300 crore in the second and third phases. In all, it should create 25,000 jobs in a span of 10 years.
“It promised support for getting necessary approvals for the project, getting SEZ approval and environmental clearance from the Central Government. The State Government agreed to provide infrastructure, including creation of local railway station,” an Infosys spokesperson told
“Subject to clearances from the authorities concerned, we were expected to make the facility operational by the end of 2008. But all the approvals got delayed for the project,” he said.
The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) had sent notices to the company asking it to explain the status of the project and enquiring about the delays in achieving milestones.
The IT major said it received the last of the major approval from municipality for a water connection as late as November 2010.
“In the first phase, we plan to complete construction by June 2012 and by March 2013 we should have about 14,000 employees in the campus with a total investment of about Rs 980 crore. We will add 4,000 engineers there this financial year depending on the completion of buildings,” he said.